Asylum seeker shot dead by police
Man injured six in Glasgow stabbing spree
Police shot dead an asylum seeker who went on a knife rampage in central Glasgow Friday after complaining about the hotel meals served to him during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The knifeman, who was from Sudan, had threatened violence against other refugees and complained he was “very hungry” in recent days after being rehoused in the hotel, a local activist told The Daily Telegraph.
The attacker stabbed six people, including a hotel receptionist and handyman, as well as an unarmed police officer who was the first on the scene.
Police Scotland ruled out terrorism as a motive for the attack at the Park Inn Hotel in West George Street, Glasgow, just before 1 p.m.
But sources suggested police were investigating whether Britain’s second multiple stabbing in seven days was inspired by last Saturday’s Reading terrorist attack, in which three people were murdered.
Armed police swarmed the hotel and, according to one witness, the knifeman was fleeing back to his room when he was shot and killed.
The stabbings prompted police to lock down Glasgow city centre with armed officers swarming into the streets and a cordon put in place that stretched for half a mile. It is thought to be the first time in 50 years that Scottish police have shot and killed anyone.
Friday’s stabbing spree will raise concerns over whether asylum seekers, many from war-torn countries, are being adequately monitored during the pandemic. Support groups had condemned a decision taken during the lockdown to move more than 300 asylum seekers in Glasgow, most of them single men, out of their self-contained apartments and into hotels.
Ako Zada, an activist from Kurdish Community Scotland, told The Daily Telegraph that the man had appeared to be “mentally unwell” in the days before the attack.
“The attacker was a Sudanese asylum seeker and he’d been telling his friends that he was very hungry in the hotel. In the past few days he was threatening people, and it was reported to the staff the day before,” he said.
About 100 asylum seekers had been housed in the 91-room hotel in the centre of the city while it was closed to guests because of the coronavirus lockdown.
Around 60 armed police stormed the hotel at 12:50 p.m. and Asst. Ch. Const. Steve Johnson said the incident was “quickly contained”.
“A man was shot by armed police and has died. Six other men are in hospital for treatment, including a 42-yearold police officer, who is in a critical but stable condition,” he said.